Written by Rebecca Hirsch, With Input from Rachel Strella
Making a social media presence is easy, but using it effectively is much harder. Consider these tips to help you create a social media presence that will grow your audience. Social media is used by all industries to communicate. There’s no shortage of articles that offer tips and tricks, but they don’t cover the basics of making a successful presence on social media. If you want the benefits of social media, here are some tips for accomplishing that.You need a strategy
You can’t build a following by accident. You need to strategize and plan out how to use your channels. Keep in mind that entertaining and engaging your audience are the most important things. An effective social media strategy for your company will:- Ensure your audience’s needs and expectations are met
- Focus on what kind of content you’ll be posting, and what themes those posts will have
- Know how frequently you’ll be updating
- Know the responsibilities of the team members that will manage your social media platforms
- Understand the tools used to make and schedule posts
- Have policies for responding to your audience in comments, mentions, and tags
Know each platform’s nuances
You can’t post on Facebook the same way you would on Instagram.
Each platform has unique qualities, and the audiences of each will have different expectations of what content posted to that platform should look like. Some examples of these nuances are:
- Hashtags – Users of Instagram expect a lot of hashtags, but more than two looks tacky to Twitter users. Facebook doesn’t use them at all, and LinkedIn doesn’t have any precedence for their use.
- Update frequency – Twitter expects posts at least every few hours in order to stay relevant. Posting more than once a day on Facebook or Instagram, however, will result in mutes and unfollows.
- Formality – LinkedIn has a professional focus, and so they expect that you will be professional in turn. The same attitude on Twitter will result in little interest. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram require a looser, more relaxed attitude in order to gain a following.
Your team should know your brand’s voice
Whoever is responsible for your social media content should understand how you want to sound. Off-brand interactions can confuse customers and result in them leaving the brand. A style guide is a great way to keep everything on-brand. A basic guide would contain the rules for any aspect of communication so that they can be handled consistently. A style guide might have:- How you present the name of your business (for example, “XYZ INC” rather than “XYZ Industries INC”)
- Which words should be hyphenated (“off brand” vs. “off-brand”)
- Words and phrases you want to avoid
- Your company’s tone
Be relatable
If you come off as unapproachable to your followers, you’ll be at a huge disadvantage. Your brand needs to be more than just a computer posting advertisements. Try giving your updates a human touch. Try:- Having conversations with your audience. Ask them questions, or create polls to get a conversation started.
- Sharing behind the scenes video of your business.
- Introducing your team members via video or bios
- Sharing testimonials about how your services have helped your customers.
Strengthen your branding efforts
You should be constantly looking for opportunities to strengthen your company’s online presence by sharing your expertise via guest spots on podcasts, interviews, and blog posts. These have the potential to generate exposure for you across all of social media, not just the sites that you use.
Stay Up to Date
Try subscribing to blogs that have updates on the best new ways to market, or what social media trends are popular right now. You should be checking your accounts frequently. You should be notified of any changes that are being made to the platform, such as terms of service changes.The Social Media Managers for your Brand Need your Support
Your followers expect follow-ups on their questions and concerns quickly. If your managers need direction on how to resolve an issue or answer a question, you need to be prepared to help that person quickly. Set the expectation with your team that they should be asking questions, and asking them quickly, before things get worse.You will Need to Pay to Grow your Brand
Many platforms have made it so that brands will show up less often in their follower’s news feeds. In order to get better exposure, you’re going to need to pay up.
Try advertising on Instagram, or paying for Twitter promotions to boost your brand. Although this costs more than doing nothing, it gets potential customers to check you out.
You Can’t be on Everything
A common mistake is trying to have a social media account on every platform. You cannot be posting good content appropriate to that platform on every single platform- there simply isn’t enough time in the day. Furthermore, resist the urge to immediately make an account when a new platform enters the scene. Getting in early isn’t always an advantage. Not every platform takes off, or have long-term benefits. Although the users might remember the best parts of a short-lived platform and continue to share its content (such as Vines), they often don’t remember any brands or businesses that used it. Assess new platforms for their long term benefits before putting your time into them.Headquartered in New York City, Bao Communications is a full-service bilingual PR Agency specializing in social media, media relations, content creation, and influencer marketing. We serve local, national, and global clients in the United States and China.